The effort to get tourism workers in Jamaica vaccinated continues to be encouraging with more employees signing up for the jab as the winter season approaches (December 15).

More than half of those working in the sector that generates the lion’s share of the country’s foreign exchange revenues, have had a vaccine and numbers continue to grow.

Speaking in Parliament last month, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett announced that around 60 per cent of the workforce had got the jab, declaring: “Our target is to ensure that 170,000 tourism workers are vaccinated and protected from the possible harm that comes from contracting the deadly COVID-19 virus and its variants. This will aid in our recovery efforts for the sector and by extension the country.”

It can be argued that to date the collaboration of both the private sector and the public sector on this initiative has been notably the most productive, this being so when some big companies have imposed mandates which have been met with resistance.

Both operators and government agencies have preferred to persuade and explain why inoculation is vital to the well- being of the sector and to better protect both visitors and workers against a virus that has plagued the world for the better part of two years now.

Statistics provided by the United Nations World Travel Organization (UNWTO) reveal the number of international tourist arrivals across the world declined by 84 per cent between March and December 2020, compared with the previous year.

The indirect effects of the contraction of the industry, due in the main to linkages with upstream sectors such as agriculture together with a fall in sales, spells a 2.5 per cent fold loss in real GDP on average with no stimulus measures.

With losses to  world tourism  placed from US$1.7 trillion to US$2.4 trillion as a result of COVID-19, the asymmetric speed of vaccinations across the world for the viability of the industry is paramount.

The United States, Jamaica’s number one tourism source market, has noted its efforts to get more workers vaccinated and implement prevention protocols, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lowered Jamaica to a Level-3 designation.

This is welcomed news at a time when Expedia, American Airlines and other carriers are pointing to demand for Jamaica as a destination.

Starting later this month, Jamaica will see 16 flights per week from the UK, bringing it back to approximately 100 per cent airline seat capacity.

The tourism sector can rightly proclaim that it’s vaccination rate is running way ahead of the country as a whole and this bodes well for getting the economy back on track – more visitors, more foreign exchange receipts revenue.

“Jamaica must be among the top Caribbean countries, when it comes to vaccination of its tourism workers. This is a big feather in its cap as far as marketing reach is concerned.

“The blitz continues to be successful and everybody has come on board because all parties have bought into just how important tourism is to the country. It is an incredible feat that is paying off,” said Quentin Holmes of the UK’s Hays Travel.

Despite the ravages of COVID, Jamaica has so far generated around US$1.4 billion from tourism with more than 1.2 million visitors this year. New hotel projects will be breaking ground as planned.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s annual ‘Economic Impact Report’, COVID cost the Caribbean tourism industry US$34 billion in lost revenue with 700,000 jobs gone and reduced its contribution to GDP by 60 per cent.

Nevertheless, Jamaica has remained steadfast and resilient, staging a comeback while putting in place health and safety initiatives.

“Our robust health and security protocols… our tourism COVID-19 Resilient Corridors… which have seen a very low infection rate of 0.6 per cent, and our Jamaica CARES programme, have earned Jamaica the admiration of local and international partners,” said Bartlett.

Speaking earlier this week on CNN’s Quest Means Business, he further added: “COVID has given us a chance to stop, look and listen; to review what we have been doing and find better ways of doing what we must.”